Ads that are too fast for a fast-forward button

A broadcast network will soon offer advertisers two more ways to try holding the attention of viewers throughout those commercial breaks that consumers love to hate.

One idea is to run quickie commercials of only 5 seconds each. The other is to schedule a series with no commercial breaks at all and instead incorporate sponsors' products into each episode.

Executives of The CW Television Network outlined their plans yesterday as they offered Madison Avenue a preview of their prime-time lineup for the 2007-2008 season.

The proposals are the most recent to be advanced by the major networks, broadcast and cable, as they grapple with the problem of keeping viewers from changing channels during commercials--or, if the viewing is being done on digital video recorders, from fast-forwarding through the spots.